One Last Chance
by Phantom Dragon of Eternal Chaos
Summary: Her heart is in turmoil. She must ask him just one question. She needs an answer . . .I dont own Elfen Lied or any characters except my own.


**Title**: One Last Chance

**Author**: Phantom Dragon of Eternal Chaos

**Dedication**: To those that loved the Anime, Characters, and Story. And to those that wanted more.

**Story**: One-shot (_Pending on reviews_)

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

_Kouta . . ._

_The one person that cared for me. That didn't judge me. That . . . loved me. _

_Also the one person that I loved back. _

_Was that alright? Should I love someone that I had taken so much from? Should he love me? I don't believe so. But he does. Does that make it alright? I don't know. It's too late to find out now. But if I was given that chance, I would ask him. _

_I can feel them. Those men with guns. They are intent on killing me. I can understand, in a way. I had killed their friends, maybe some of there family. They did have some right to try and kill me. But I had to find out something for they got what they wanted. I had to live, if even for one more day, or even one more hour. I have to find out this something that has plagued my mind for years._

_But I guess that is just being selfish of me. I did have time to ask, but I never did. It never came up though. But, again, I did have enough time on this world. So I believe that they can kill me now . . ._

_I gaze at the closest human in front of me. He's no more then ten feet away. Anger is written all over his face. Maybe even hatred. But his eyes show something different. Fear. Something I had instilled in him. In all of them. In those eyes I also see myself, standing there, seemingly emotionless. I believe that is what they think of me. Let them. _

_It all seems to happen in slow motion. Guns are leveled at me. Orders are issued. Fingers on triggers. The order to shoot. I do nothing. Until the bullets start flying. I raise my vectors in a half-hearted attempt to shield myself. I don't deserve to live, after all I have done. I don't deserve someone's love. I don't deserve to love someone. _

_A sharp pain races through my head as I feel my horn be sawn off by a bullet. That horn . . . I can remember when I had both of them, and how much trouble they had given me. My lips seem to curl a little by themselves to form a small grin. I can still remember when Kouta had pushed that silly hat onto my head to cover them up. Now I dont have those horns. I guess, if I were to live through this, I wouldn't be stared at anymore for them. I could even look . . . normal, by human standards. The irony of the situation is appalling. When I tried to be friendly with the horns, I was treated terribly. When I'm about to die, I loose both of them. _

_I stop. Maybe I did have some time to ask him that question. After that, they could do whatever they wanted to me. But I needed to ask him. The only things standing in my way are these humans. Their revenge will have to wait. _

_--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------_

Kouta gazed back at the inn with some amazement. When had that clock started working? O, right, when Nyuu at fixed it. He had never thought that she would be able to get it to work again. Shows that she had more then one brain cell in that cute little head of hers. Well, that was the Nyuu side of her, that didn't go for the Lucy side of her. Sighing, he turned back to the front gate.

As he took the last few steps to the front gate, his minded wandered back the last two weeks. After Lucy had 'left,' things had gone back to somewhat normal way of life. Mayu was getting used to school, Nana had, mostly, healed after what Mariko had done to her. She couldn't go to school with Mayu, for fear that someone might see her horns, so Mayu had taken it upon herself to teach her everything she had learned in school whenever she could. Yuka was, well, she was still Yuka, the caring 'mother' of those two. She still forced his head into a pillow every morning when he tried to sleep in, she still berated him on his classes at school, she still did her standard Yuka stuff.

As for himself, he was more quite then he used to be. Also, new thought patterns seem to emerge almost overnight. He knew it wasn't depression, since he didn't stay in bed all day or think his life was terrible. He just had a new outtake on life. It might be darker then what his mismatched family might think, but they would get used to it. They had to.

Placing a hand on the gate handle, he sighed. He did wish too know what had happen to her. Had she been killed? Had she escaped? Was she alive? If so, where? He had to find out, but he didn't know where or how. And if he found out that she was dead, he was sure he would break down. If he found out she was alive, then what? He couldn't exactly go out and find her, for fear that the government would come after him.

Opening the door, he stared. A stray memory floated into his mind about his father once telling him it was very rude to stare. But, damn it, it was hard not to stare. The person he was just thinking about was standing right in front of him. Had god read his mind or something? So many things flew in his mind, but he couldn't put them into words to actually say, so he did the next most intelligent thing he could think of.

He hugged her.

"Hello . . . Kouta."

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

_What was there for me to say? Should I just walk up there, knock, and hope that I was let in? Or maybe I should just knock and ask the question. Or maybe . . . no, that wasn't right. I should just be blunt, as always. _

_Walking up the steps to the inn, my mind keeps wandering back to the past. Most of those memories are dark, such as all the laughing and name calling that was done to me when I tried to go too school. Then things brightened up again when I found that little puppy on the hill. Then dark again when those damned humans had killed him just to try and make me miserable. I did feel a sort of satisfaction when I killed them, including that little bitch who I thought was my friend. _

_Things brightened up considerably when Kouta popped into my life. That little box that produced such a sad, but at the same time compelling song was something we both shared. My best memory was when he took me to the zoo. When we were on the bus heading there, I tried to put up a tough act for him, making it seem like I didn't care about seeing some 'stupid animals,' but he had seemed unfazed. My act broke down when I saw my first elephant. After that I tried to pull back and act tough again, but that broke again when I saw my first giraffe. I couldn't help but wonder why the hell they had such long necks? Had god taken some sick pleasure out of stretching them to that length?_

_The water fight had been really enjoyable. When he had first splashed me in the face, my first thought was that he was just like the rest of them, just trying to make fun of me. But then, for a reason that I couldn't think of, my arms seemed to act on there own and shove him into the water, body and all. Having him look up at me with those brown eyes with a mixture of shock, amusement, and slight anger is something I will always remember. After that, we got busy and started splashing water back and forth. I would say that I won the fight, but he would think he won. And you know what? I really didn't care. I was actually having fun. _

_When I had asked him if his cousin was a boy or girl, and he answered me say that it was a boy, I guess I didn't actually take the time to look at his face to tell wither or not that it was true. At the time, when I found out that he had lied, I snapped, and ruined his life, but now that I think about it, I can understand that he was just trying to . . . how should I say, protect me? from what he was really feeling. I'm not sure I can really explain it, even now. _

_My darkest memory is when I killed his sister and father in front of him. How he had asked that he thought we were friends, and me replying that we were friends, that was the reason I hadn't killed him. He had jumped me, pleading with me to stop it. I didn't know why he wanted me to stop, what reason could there be? He had lied to me, so he had to pay. He should be glad that I hadn't killed him. So why was he crying? And pleading? _

_And why did it feel like my heart was being shredded as he pleaded with me?_

_I open my eyes. That was the past. This is the present. I know what I must do, but its just so damned hard to accomplish it. _

_I stand in front of the gate, wondering what I am going to say. I can't think of anything. Worse yet, I don't know who is going to answer. Mayu? Bad. Nana? Worse. Yuka? Deadly. I never could really connect with any of them. Mayu was, well, she reminded me a little of myself when I was younger, always a bit shyer then the people around me. Nana seemed to represent the child in me that I never got to express openly to everybody else. I know Yuka represents my own jealousy over Kouta when I was much younger. Life has a funny way of throwing you with people who seem to represent your own personality. Or maybe I was just over thinking this._

_But I was getting sidetracked. I have to do this now, or I won't be able to do it later. I knock, hoping its Kouta who answers. I can hear, from beyond the gate, the song that had seemed to represent my life finish. Then I can hear that old clock start to ring. Too think, I had actually fixed it. Will wonders ever cease?_

_When the door slides open, and I see Kouta standing there, I can only thank whatever higher power is up there, or below there, depends on which is looking over me, that its him that answered. Kouta. My Kouta. I wonder if he really thinks the same about me. I can see he is shocked at my presence. I suddenly get the feeling that I may not be welcomed here, that my coming here was a bad idea. Who was I to interrupt his life? I had done so much evil in it, I didn't belong here, I had no right to find an answer to my question. No right-_

_He. Is. Hugging. Me . . . again. No yelling. No anger. No tears. No sorrow. No pain. Just . . . love. It's all I can feel radiating off of him. Why? Why is he so devoted to me? I feel tears come to my eyes. It's a new sensation. Maybe I don't have to ask my question. Maybe I already know . . . I can't help but smile as I hug him back._

"_Hello . . . Kouta." _

_------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------_

_Note: Depending on what you, the reviewers, tell me, I may write a few more chapters for this. If not, I will keep this as a one-shot. _


End file.
